This area will be quite transformed if/when this goes up, Carnegie 57 goes up and the other Extell building finally is constructed. I look forward to seeing the design of this one. For some reason I hope they give it a classic new york look (similar to 15 Central Park West), rather than something avant garde.

I have not. However, this project was planned before the market crashed. It has been the subject of many articles because it was a rent-regulated building, and the owners were offering tenants $1m each to leave. Many still refused, and the owners sued and won in court. I believe that it's now totally empty.

Google "220 Central Park South," and you'll find many articles.

Extell owns contiguous sites on W58th, which are just north of its 225 W57th assemblage, and it plans a 20-30 story building there -- short so as not to block the views from 225 W 57th.

Roth's latest 220 CPW headache: Gary Barnett
March 28, 2011 09:30AM
Gary Barnett Developers Steven Roth and Gary Barnett are set to face off at 220 Central Park West, a 1950s-era apartment building that Roth's Vornado Realty Trust has been planning to demolish and replace with a 41-story, $400 million condominium tower for more than five years. But Barnett, president of the increasingly powerful Extell Development, is the leaseholder on the parking garage below, and so far he's refusing to be bought out, according to the Wall Street Journal. In December, Vornado agreed to pay $40 million to buy out the remaining 26 rent-regulated tenants at the 124-unit building, which it acquired with the Clarett Group for $131 million in 2005. Barnett, who has operated the garage for the past few years, has about six years left on his lease. Vornado may still be able to build at 220 Central Park West if Barnett continues to rebuff the company's buyout efforts, but that would make it a much more expensive project, sources said. Barnett also owns a neighboring lot on 58th Street -- adjacent to another Vornado-Clarett building at 229 West 58th Street -- and has already filed plans to build an 18-story apartment building on that site. [WSJ]

Just when developer Steven Roth thought he had cleared his biggest hurdle for a planned new skyscraper on Central Park's southern edge, here comes Gary Barnett.

For more than five years, Mr. Roth's Vornado Realty Trust has been trying to clear out the renters in its 20-story apartment building at 220 Central Park South. The goal was to knock down the building and erect a soaring luxury condo tower with sweeping views of the park in its place. Vornado agreed in December to spend $40 million paying off the remaining apartment tenants, who are now moving out.

But Vornado has a final and unlikely holdout: Mr. Barnett, the rival developer and president of Extell Development Company.

A few years ago, Mr. Barnett bought the lease to the parking garage in the white-brick apartment building, according to people familiar with the situation. Mr. Barnett has thus far rebuffed the attempts of Mr. Roth to purchase the lease, the people said.

While talks continue between the parties, Extell's continued hold on that underground garage's lease would block, or greatly complicate, Vornado's attempts to demolish the 1950s building.

Mr. Barnett's strategy remains unclear. But holdouts often succeed in extracting big payments from developers eager to break ground. Mr. Barnett also owns an adjacent property and has expressed a desire to develop in the area.

"I have the greatest respect for Vornado and its team of executives," Mr. Barnett said Sunday in a statement. "We hope to resolve any issues concerning these buildings in a mutually satisfactory manner."

Battles between developers and holdouts are common in the bare-knuckled culture of New York real estate, often tying projects up for years. The Durst family, for instance, waited more than three decades to buy out the last property owners for a site on 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue and develop the Bank of America tower.

Rarely, however, do the fights involve high-profile developers at opposite sides of the table. Vornado is one of the city's largest office landlords, built up over the past 30 years by Mr. Roth, a hard-charging negotiator. Mr. Barnett, a former diamond trader, is among the city's most active developers and is currently building a 75-story high-end hotel and apartment tower across from Carnegie Hall.

Vornado, along with development partner Clarett Group, bought the 124-unit building at 220 Central Park for $131 million in 2005. The developers planned a 41-story condo tower to rise in its place. Central Park is prime real estate, and new apartment buildings aren't built there very often. Vornado's latest quarterly regulatory filing put the development's cost at between $400 million and $425 million.

Soon after Vornado bought it, the project ran into resistance from rent-regulated tenants in the building. They sued in 2007, arguing that Vornado hadn't followed the law for removing them.

The legal challenge dragged on until December 2010, when the remaining tenants settled. Vornado spread $40 million to buy out renters of 26 units, according to property records.

Mr. Barnett remains. His lease lasts about six more years, people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Barnett's ownership of a neighboring lot on 58th Street could factor into negotiations. He has filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a permit to construct an 18-story apartment building there. That lot is sandwiched by another property owned by Vornado and Clarett, a small building at 229 West 58th Street.

If Mr. Barnett doesn't budge, Vornado might be able to still erect its building over the existing garage. But it would be much more expensive, if even possible.

This isn't the first time Mr. Barnett has butted heads with a heavyweight in New York City real estate. A decade ago, he unsuccessfully sued to block construction of the New York Times tower on 41st Street after the state tried to seize land owned by Mr. Barnett for the Forest City Ratner project. And in 2005, he made an unexpected bid to the M.T.A. in an attempt to offer an alternative to another Forest City project, the Atlantic Yards basketball arena and housing development in Brooklyn.

It also isn't the first time the Columbus Circle neighborhood has seen a clash of the real estate titans. Last year, Stephen Ross, chairman of the Related Companies, made an unsuccessful hostile bid to foreclose on and demolish 1775 Broadway, a building a block away owned by large landlord Joseph Moinian.

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“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.

If the air rights from Barnett's adjacent sites are added, I wonder if we can get another 900 footer! It's in Barnett's interest to be a partner on this site and ensure that a very slender tower is built which does not interfere with views from Carngie 57 or from 225 W57th.

If the air rights from Barnett's adjacent sites are added, I wonder if we can get another 900 footer! It's in Barnett's interest to be a partner on this site and ensure that a very slender tower is built which does not interfere with views from Carngie 57 or from 225 W57th.

If this gets built then Tower Verre better get built because, if I recall, a huge arguement was that Tower Verre would cast an, arguably, huge shadow on Central Park and now your saying a possible 900 footer right on Central Park! Hopefully the NIMBYs will give up.